Yao Hongru

Chinese artist Yao Hongru’s works are like microcosms of his society and people. He remarks on the socio-cultural transformations and the way these impact the lives of ordinary Chinese people.

Born 1963 in China, Yao Hongru completed his art education from the Faculty of Fine Art at Anhui Fuyang University. Many of his works are a part of private collections both in China and abroad. 

Hongru paints on multiple themes, specifically focusing on the skill, anatomy and character of the models. A prominent feature of his work is portraits of women. Surpassing the threshold of modernity and tradition of rendering, the Chinese women in western clothes represent the evolutionary modernity that is embracing China over time. But a closer look at these female subjects reveals a compelling discourse of identity and sustenance of the middle-class community under the Chinese government. Significantly, it discloses a tension between the old and the new. 

The women subjects are also ambitious and seem to be living somewhere between their dream world and the real world.. There are portraits of young Chinese women holding both western and Chinese musical instruments. In addition to these tropes that reflect the Chines society for an outsider, the reality goes beyond the real representation. Hongru’s classical treatment of his painting not only appears to be obsessive but also sprout his expertise in observation and relevant execution.

The strong element of storytelling in Hongru’s works effervesces at a nominal level. The paintings of ordinary Chinese people in different surroundings are like narratives unfolding in front of the viewer. Notably, they also denote us of his influence from European masters like Manet and Velazquez!